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Friends Attending

Friends Attending

Description

Please join us for the Our Changing World Lecture, "The price of anarchy: why choosing the right routes for travel matters", with Dr Kathryn Stewart.

Doors open at 6.15pm.

Abstract

Throughout recent history motor vehicle manufacturers have marketed cars by appealing to a driver’s sense of autonomy and self-fulfilment – adverts feature driving on open roads in appealing countryside rather than in congested cities and new drivers are enticed into car ownership with the promise that a car allows a driver the choice to travel at their own convenience.

The reality however is that in most urban areas congested networks impose restraints on drivers’ ability to make desirable choices; many will depart early to avoid congestion or will avoid motorways or routes with signalised junctions if other options are available. Allowing drivers (within legal constraints) to select their own preferred routes or departure times results in traffic flows across networks which are sub-optimal and more efficient traffic flows can result from a traffic management system which routes traffic according to “system-optimality”.

The difference in overall travel time between system optimal routing and routing according to user choice is termed “The Price of Anarchy”.